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PROCEEDINGS 



AT THE 



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Charter #ak pall 



UPON THE 



SOUTH MEADOW GROUNDS 



COL. SAMUEL COLT 



WITH THE ADDRESSES ON THE OCCASION 



Is Iters. Sawdtj, Stuart, antr gemiitg. 



EDITED BY 

J. DEANE ALDEN. 



Jartftfrc: 

PRESS OF CASE, TIFFANY AND COMPANY. 



M.DCCC.LTI. 



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To the Hon. Messrs. W. J. Hamersley, I. W. Stuart, and IT. 
C. Dkming : 

Having enjoyed the pleasure of listening to your instructive and eloquent 
addresses, on the occasion of the Inauguration of " Charter Oak Hall," the 
undersigned, employees in Colt's Armory, have the honor to request you to 
furnish, as early as may suit your convenience, manuscripts of the addresses 
for publication. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

ALLYN GOODWIN, 
L. T. PEARSON, 
THEODORE STUDLEY, 
WM. TULLER, 

A. WINSLOW, 

and two hundred and eighty others. 



.,, . ; , Hartford, May 13th, 1856. 

Gentlemen : We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
communication of the 12th inst., requesting us to furnish manuscript reports 
of the remarks respectively submitted by us, on the occasion of the dedication 
of " Charter Oak Hall." 

So far as our memories may enable us so to do, it will afford us pleasure 
to comply with your kind and flattering invitation. 

Be pleased to receive our best wishes for the success of the " Armory," 
which is the field of your labors, and for your own individual prosperity. 
We remain, 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

WM. J AS. HAMERSLEY, 
I. W. STUART, 
HENRY C. DEMING. 

To Messrs Allyn Goodwin, L. T. Pearson, Theodore Studley, Wm. Tuller, 
A. Winslow, and others. 



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PROCEEDINGS. 



On the evening of May the sixth, under circum- 
stances highly novel and imposing, the new Hall, which 
has been recently constructed by Col. Samuel Colt in 
connection with his Armory, and other improvements 
upon the South Meadows in Hartford, was duly dedi- 
cated. No occasion of its kind ever passed off more 
happily than this — and none, in Hartford, was ever so 
pleasantly associated with the vital interests of capital 
and labor, and with the material growth, prosperity, 
and good fortune of the city. 

The building which contains the Hall, is a lofty 
structure of brick, triangular in form, and is situated 
just west of the Armory of Col. Colt, at the corner 
of Huyshope and Charter Oak Avenues; — upon a con- 
spicuous and beautiful spot in the valley of the Con- 
necticut. A faithful representation of it, as it will ap- 
pear when its extensions are completed, may be seen 
in the print opposite. 

The Hall, which is accessible by a winding stairway, 
comprising three flights of stairs, occupies the whole of 
the fourth story — the rest of the edifice being divided 



into numerous rooms that are designed for a great va- 
riety of useful purposes — chiefly, however, for those of 
business. It is a spacious and tasteful apartment, and 
reflects the highest credit upon the skill of H. A. G. 
Pomeroy, the able architect in the employ of Col. 
Colt, who planned it, and upon the handiwork of 
Messrs Stow and Borgelt, the artists who painted and 
embellished it. It is elegantly frescoed, well-ventilated, 
thoroughly lighted by gas, and finished throughout in 
a substantial and workmanlike manner. 

Upon one of the panels on the wall is delineated, 
with historic accuracy and fine effect, a map of Hart- 
ford as it was in 1640, during the period of its first set- 
tlement — while upon another and adjacent panel, that 
portion of the South Meadows now occupied by the 
improvements of Col. Colt is faithfully portrayed — and 
it is in contemplation to fill up the remaining panels 
with farther appropriate drawings — thus making the 
Avails themselves instructive teachers of history and of 
art. The rostrum, or speaker's stand — directly in front 
of which was displayed, on occasion of the celebration, 
a bronze figure of a colt rampant, exquisitely wrought 
in Col. Colt's own establishment — is at the narrow 
or western end of the Hall, and is furnished with a 
neat and permanent desk or pulpit — while opposite, at 
the eastern end, was erected for the occasion an ample 
platform for the accommodation of a musical band. 
The Hall — in height twenty feet, and in length one 
hundred feet — is capable of accommodating, seated, 
about one thousand persons, and is to be devoted, in 



the special purpose of Col. Colt, to the benefit of the 
thousand workmen and their families, who are more 
or less directly connected with the business and the 
interests of his establishment. 

The time for the inauguration of this structure was 
most propitious, and the Hall was early crowded, to its 
utmost capacity, by deeply-interested spectators. The 
workmen of the Armory, with their families, almost 
without exception, were present, and their countenan- 
ces indicated as robust, happy, and intelligent a body 
of artisans as ever it was the fortune of any employer 
to collect in any one establishment. Many invited 
guests, from Hartford, Middletown, and other places, 
were also present — ladies and gentlemen, the old and the 
young, many of them of high distinction in society — 
and took a deep and grateful interest in the occasion. 
The Armory Band, which has been recently origina- 
ted, and munificently endowed by Col. Colt himself, 
from among his own mechanics exclusively, for the 
purpose of promoting musical art within the seat of his 
extensive proprietorship, was also present, in a new and 
beautiful blue uniform, tastefully embellished, and 
wearing caps that bore in front the armorial bearing 
and the name of Colt. They discoursed "most elo- 
quent music" in the Hall, while the audience was col- 
lecting, and proved, both at this time, and afterwards 
during the evening, a great addition to the charm of 
the occasion. 

The assemblage was in due time called to order by 
Allyn Goodwin Esquire, a worthy citizen of Hartford, 



8 

and an electro-plater in the employ of Col. Colt — 
the oldest among his workmen at the head of a De- 
partment. Upon his motion, the Hon. William J. 
Hamersley was unanimously appointed to the Chair — 
to which he was conducted by Hon. Messrs H. C. Dem- 
ing, the Mayor of the City, and I. W. Stuart, who, 
with himself, had been selected to discharge the dedica- 
tory duties of the evening. These gentlemen were 
soon joined on the stage by Colonel Colt himself, ac- 
companied by Messrs E. K. Root, the Head Superin- 
tendent of his Armory, Milton Jocelyn, his Cashier, 
Horace Lord, the Superintendent of his Arm-Manufac- 
turing Department, J. Deane Alden, his Private Secre- 
tary, H. A. G. Pomeroy, his Engineer, Hon. E. Flower, 
Ex-Mayor of the city, R. D. Hubbard Esquire, and 
others, his friends and citizens of Hartford. The Band 
then proceeded to execute, in finished style, the popu- 
lar musical airs entitled the "Hearty Quickstep," and 
"Captain Blood's Quickstep" — after which, Hon. Mr. 
Hamersley introduced the exercises of the occasion as 
follows: 



MR. HAMERSIEY'S SPEECH. 



Ladies and Gentlemen. 

I have been requested to take part in the exercises 
of this evening, in consequence of my former official 
connection with the earliest public proceedings in rela- 
tion to the laying out of highways in the South Mead- 
ow; and because that great work of internal improve- 
ment which has been successfully consummated under 
the administration of my accomplished successor, was 
first recommended by me as chairman of a committee 
whose report was unanimous, and was approved by the 
council over which I had the honor to preside. 

For this great improvement, for the elegant Hall in 
which we are assembled — for the spacious manufactory 
near us, and for all the structures within this inclosure, 
we are indebted to the genius, the energy, and the en- 
terprise of Col. Samuel Colt. They are all the result 
of his invention of the repeating arms. 

Col. Colt has not reached his present successful posi- 
tion, without encountering a large share of those dis- 
couragements, which so often beset the pathway of me- 
chanical genius. But he was conscious of the value of 



10 

the new arm, and with a courage that never quailed, a 
determination that never wavered, and a persistency of 
purpose in prosecuting the object of his honorable am- 
bition, that never failed him, he removed every imped- 
iment, surmounted every obstacle, and has finally ac- 
complished the end he had in view. 

The value of the new Aveapon is at length universal- 
ly acknowledged, and the name of Samuel Colt is now 
more widely known throughout the world than that of 
any other living American inventor. 

The young lad who left Hartford with no capital but 
his active brain, and willing hands, has returned in the 
prime of his manhood to the place where he was born, 
and where the ashes of his ancestors repose, and has 
founded an establishment which is an honor to him, 
and an ornament to the place of his nativity. 

However great the credit to be awarded Col. Colt, it 
is evident he could not accomplish that which he is 
now doing, without the assistance of the large number 
of intelligent and ingenious mechanics, who are daily 
engaged in his service, and of the beautiful processes of 
labor-saving machinery, managed by men whose minds 
can appreciate, as well as control, the forces which they 
direct. 

Indeed the whole history of the " repeating arms," 
from the time when first shaped in the " fertile work- 
shop" of the inventor's brain, until this moment, when 
so many wonderful instrumentalities are engaged in 
forming each part, furnishes a proud illustration of in- 
ventive genius, and mechanical skill. 



11 

When I pass through the spacious factory where the 
celebrated "Revolvers" are made, — when I look upon 
the large number of capable mechanics, thoroughly 
versed in the duties of their calling, and when I exam- 
ine the various machines, each so well adapted to the 
purposes for which it was framed, and each bearing the 
stamp of intellect, and, as it were, instinct with thought, 
the whole impresses me with the same sense of exalta- 
tion that I experience, when listening to the words of 
some majestic poem, or the strains of some magnificent 
musical composition. 

This Hall is to be appropriated to the uses of those 
who labor in the employment of its enterprising pro- 
prietor, and is to be devoted to purposes of moral, 
intellectual, and artistic culture. 

Of the latter, you have already had a specimen in 
the music of the admirable " Armory Band," who have 
this evening favored us with their first public perform- 
ance, and whose "notes," I am sure, will never be 
regarded as " below par," in any part of the world. 

This Hall is to be dedicated to one of the great pow- 
ers of the earth, — a power, without which, there would 
be no civilization, — a power that under the direction of 
the inventive mind, fells the forest, builds the city, con- 
structs the road, guides the march of commerce through 
the trackless waves, controls the forces of nature, and 
tames the elemental world : — this Hall is to be dedicated 
to the Sovereignty of labor. 

A gentleman has been selected to deliver the Inau- 
gural Address, who, in view of the name this Hall is to 



12 

bear, of his forensic abilities and cultivated intellect, of 
his intimate acquaintance with the history of the town, 
and of the lively interest he has manifested in the pro- 
gress of the improvements that surround us, is, of all 
others, the best fitted, for the performance of the agree- 
able duties assigned to him. 

Far in the distant future be the time when he shall 
cease to act as the patriotic guardian of the Charter 
Oak, — far distant be the time when he shall no more be 
with us, to illustrate the history, and adorn the litera- 
ture of the State ; but, when his earthly mission shall 
have been fulfilled, when this generation, and many 
succeeding generations through coming centuries, shall 
have played their part on the stage of life ; still may 
the old Oak live : — live to breast the storms of winter, 
and put forth its green leaves beneath the summer's 
sun — live, to remind the people of our State, how the 
founders of the commonwealth clung to their chartered 
rights, — live, to tell the sons of Connecticut through the 
silent, yet impressive eloquence of its stately presence, 
so to act, that when the hour of political trial shall 
come, the principles of liberty may find refuge and pro- 
tection in their hearts. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this Hall will now be dedi- 
cated bv the Hon. Isaac W. Stuart. 



ME. STUART'S SPEECH. 



" Mr. Chairman," — said Mr. Stuart, as he rose after the 
warm applause which succeeded the remarks of Mr. 
Hamersley had subsided, " You have given me a kind 
and flattering introduction " — I can only trust, Sir, that 
in what I have to say, I may come up to the phrase of 
your manifesto in my behalf. 

" I am here to-night," proceeded the Speaker, " in 
compliance with the solicitation of my friend Col. 
Colt, to aid in the inauguration of this new and beauti- 
ful room, and to bestow upon it a name. I am called 
upon — not lightly, but gravely — not summarily, but at 
fitting length — duly to initiate into the family of Halls 
this fresh offspring of the trowel, the chisel, the plane, 
and the painter's art — that here upon the sweet valley 
of the Connecticut — in architectural company with a 
magnificent Armory — has sprung up suddenly, as under 
a magician's wand, to extend spacious, and graceful, and 
grateful accommodation for numerous human wants. 

This is not the first time that I have been summoned 
by the projector of this edifice, to perform similar ser- 
vice — though never before in this public manner. 



14 

Through a truly commendable judgment of his own — at 
the very start of his great enterprise upon these Mead- 
ows — he decided that all its principal structures, its 
avenues, its streets, its dock, its areas, if any, that might 
be reserved and embellished for public purposes — should, 
as from time to tune the new improvements might 
appear, receive commemorative names — names that 
are replete with significance — that should remind of the 
Past — that should interweave with the Present — and 
carry the imagination forward, with gladsome anticipa- 
tions, to the Future upon this the seat of his proprietor- 
ship and of his laudable pride. In pursuance of this his 
purpose, he early constituted me a sort of lay-pastor for 
his christenings. Whether, in doing this, he was at- 
tracted by any superior and clerical gravity in my 
appearance — or by my imputed familiarity with the 
territorial site he has chosen, having once had occasion 
to write its history — I know not — but, at all events it 
has been his preference that I should act in the capacity 
to which I allude. And the result has been thus far — 
First, that the Aboriginal Proprietors of these Mead- 
ows and this town, the Indians of the tribe of Suckiage, 
are commemorated through the names of five of those 
the representatives of their race who deeded Hartford 
to its first English settlers. Sequassen Street preserves 
the memory of their proud, valiant, persevering, wary, 
yet faithful Head-Sachem — Wawarme Avenue, that of 
his sister and only heir — Masseek Street, Weehassat 
Street, and Curcombe Street, that of three of his succes- 
sors, subordinate Sagamores — whose grant, in union with 



15 

that of some others of the Indian blood royal, gave the 
whole beautiful area extending from Wethersfield on 
the south to Windsor on the north, and from "the Great 
River" on the east "full six miles" into the wilderness 
on the west, to the Founders of our Town, the memorable 
emigrating band under Hooker and Haynes. 

Second, it has resulted from the plan under consid- 
eration, that the Dutch, who were the first of Europeans 
to ascend the Connecticut, and build, and possess, and 
plant upon these " South Meadows," are also commem- 
orated. Hui/shope Avenue recalls at once the Fort 
they constructed, just by us at the mouth of the Little 
River, or Riveret, as it is more beautifully denominated 
in our earliest records. Vandyke Avenue — that directly 
confronting the river — preserves the name* of the orig- 
inal commander of this small, yet compact fort, from 
whose ramparts the Dutch flag floated in pride for about 
twenty years — and at the same time, by a happy double 
meaning in its last syllable — by an accidental yet felici- 
tous paronomasia — designates in English that gigantic 
embankment around us now, which has shut out the 
waters of the Connecticut in their maddened freshet> 
time, and like corresponding constructions in Holland 
against old Ocean's inroads, has " to the stake a strug- 
gling area bound." Vredendale Avenue, and Vredendale 
Dock — or PeacedaU Avenue, and Peacedale Dock, as beau- 
tifully in our own vernacular this Dutch appellative 
signifies — notify us of the Supreme Governor, appointed 

* Gysbert Vandyke, in full. 



1G 

by the "High and Mighty States General" of Holland, 
over the fort upon this spot — Johannes De La Montague, 
a member of the Council of the New-Netherland, a Doc- 
tor of Medicine, and the owner of a blooming country 
scat, designated by the soothing name of Vredendale, 
which lay within the circuit of the present Empire City 
of the Union — that city, be it marked, from whose port 
the yacht Onntst — the first built vessel of that " re*/ less"* 
metropolis, whose enterprising commerce now " defies 
every wind, outrides every tempest, and invades every 
zone" — pushed the first voyage up our own Connecti- 
cut, and bore the great navigator Block to discover and 
map out the site of our own Hartford. This navigator, 
and his well-famed lieutenant Hendricxsen, are also 
suitably commemorated in avenues respectively en- 
titled Van Block and Hendricxsen. 

Third, it has resulted from the plan under considera- 
tion, that our English Progenitors, who purchased here 
of the native inhabitants, and who supplanted the 
Dutch — by virtue, as I think, of a just title, originating 
in the right of prior discovery, or if not in this, then in 
the right of legitimate conquest — are also, soon as cer- 
tain new streets, already laid out, shall come to be im- 
proved, to be commemorated here through the names 
of their Hooker, their Haynes, their Hopkins, their Webster, 
and others, their choice and leading men — one of whom 
only, thus far, is memorialized, and in the name of 
Wylbjs avenue. 

And fourth, it has resulted, that an ever-memorable 

. . __* 

* "Restless " is the meaning of " Onrust." 



17 

contest for liberty, in the infancy of Connecticut, be- 
tween these our English progenitors on the one hand, 
and their parent country on the other — in which a 
Monarch Tree figured as the Deliverer of the oppressed — 
is also commemorated in the name of this the avenue 
upon which we are now assembled, and at the head of 
which that Deliverer still stands — the Charter Oak 
Avenue. 

So it happens — by virtue of the nomenclature thus 
far applied — th?t the Indian, the Dutch, and the English 
antecedents of this spot, are all indicated — that a three- 
fold-history is signified, each part of which, by itself, is 
of deeply interesting import, but which, compounded, 
forms one of the most remarkable and thrilling pictures 
on record of human experience in the colonization and 
settlement of this New World — and that the whole of 
this great Past, by means of another and a modern des- 
ignation — the only one which in justice ever could be 
thought of to mark that gigantic structure yonder, and 
its projector — is made to link in happily with the Pres- 
ent. This modern designation is Colt's Armory ! 

Upon one of the panels, on the eastern wall of this 
apartment, has been painted, it will be observed, with 
great accuracy, a map of Hartford as it was in 1640, 
during the period of its first settlement — while upon 
another and adjacent panel, that portion of the South 
Meadows now occupied with the improvements of Col. 
Colt has also been delineated, as it was when pur- 
chased by him, with the names of the proprietors from 
whom he bought upon the respective lands which they 



18 

possessed — and upon a third panel it is contemplated 
also to exhibit the whole territorial site in question as 
it now is, distributed into avenues, streets, and areas — so 
that, most happily, the walls of this Hall will themselves 
be made to express, in an imposing and instructive 
form, lessons of history and of material improvement* 

So much, gentlemen and ladies, for what has been 
already done in the baptismal circuit upon these Mead- 
ows. Now for what remains to be done to night — the 
naming of the Hall in which we are at present met. 
This duty I must discharge, as I have already intimated, 
gravely — and, as requested, with fitting comment. 

What, then, are the wants which this apartment is in- 
tended to supply? This is the first question which 
naturally, and at once, rises to our minds. Let me pro- 
ceed to answer it. 

They are wants both intellectual and physical, both 
of the mind and of the body. This Hall, with special 
reference to the population now and hereafter to be 
gathered in this valley — is intended, in the first place, 
for a Reading-room, where newspapers and periodicals of 
an instructive character, are to be collected for quiet 
perusal in hours not devoted to mechanical labor. It is 
intended also as a room where, occasionally, as oppor- 
tunity may direct, Lectures may be delivered, experi- 
mental or otherwise, upon science and art, upon philos- 
ophy and morals, or upon any topic where the purpose 



* The three prints which contain the delineations to whieh reference is made 
above, will be found at the end of this pamphlet. 



19 

shall be to communicate useful knowledge. It is to be 
used, too, as a room for discussion or debate, should any 
associations here, within the circuit of these South 
Meadows, be organized for such an end — and as a room 
besides for the display of such interesting and improv- 
ing curiosities and pictures, as the good judgment of its 
projector may from time to time select and appropriate 
out of the stores which his own abundant means enable 
him readily to accumulate. 

This place also is to be used as a room where parties 
may assemble "to trip the light fantastic toe" — where 
Colt's capital may gather, so it pleases, " its beauty and 
its chivalry," and all go " merry as a marriage bell" 
upon a Thanksgiving, or a Christmas Eve — or on the 
night of an eighth of January, or a twenty-second 
of February, or of an Election Day, or of the ever- 
memorable Fourth of July, or upon occasion of any hol- 
iday celebrations where the object shall be innocent 
enjoyment. Fairs, too, designed to answer some special 
philanthropic end, may here make their display. Con- 
certs may be given here — finely foretokened to-night by 
stirring harmonies from that Band, now present, which 
has been originated and munificently endowed by Col. 
Colt himself, for the worthy purpose of domestica- 
ting high musical art within this Armory neighborhood. 
And to tones of a far graver character than those which 
issue from the lips of song, or from the mouths of silver 
instruments, these walls, within the purpose of their 
owner, may sometimes be allowed to echo — aye, even 
to the tones of religious teaching, should some " rever- 



20 

end champion" perchance, of "meek and unaffected 
grace," desire, here upon the new dwellers of this valley, 
to 

" Try each art, reprove each dull delay, 
Allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way." 

Truly the plan, viewed as a whole, is a most happy 
one — and when all the industrial conceptions of Col. 
Colt shall have heen realized upon this spot, it will be, 
I think, quite unexampled. It is a truly American and 
republican movement — this is the aspect in which it 
strikes me most forcibly. So far as it proposes to afford 
facilities for instruction, it is founded on the grand idea 
of placing the labor of this valley upon the platform of 
intelligence — of elevating it beyond mere physical and 
mechanical development into the sphere of intellectu- 
alized exertion — and so not only of rendering the arti- 
san happier in the use of his skill within the workshop, 
but more enlightened for the discharge of his other 
duties, in all his various relations as a member of society, 
and particularly as a member of our own great Ameri- 
can household of faith. 

In the true theory of our government and institutions, 
Labor, we all know, is a far different and loftier element 
than it is, or ever has been, in the Old World, or any- 
where else upon the face of the earth — and is to be 
met and treated in its alliance with capital in a far dif- 
ferent spirit, and with higher purposes in its employ- 
ment than those which it is doomed to encounter 
elsewhere. Under European despotisms the doctrine 
prevails — taught even by philosophers in their text- 



21 

books on political economy, and pronounced with mag- 
isterial air from the counting-room of almost every 
wealthy proprietor — that labor is but the instrument, 
the mere handmaid to furnish the profits of capital, and 
that its natural and proper pay is mere subsistence. 

But with us, on the other hand, it is emphatically the 
parent of capital. " It earns capital — it is almost uni- 
versally mixed in with capital." It is a free, sentient, 
intelligent, enterprising, accumulating, religious spirit — 
born when Liberty first awoke upon the shores of this 
New World, amid the pious thanks and sturdy vows of 
that noble Exile Band who came here to plant the seeds 
of a great nation — and spreading its energies since, in 
the pride of a glorious independence — in the power of 
a tireless perseverance — and in the mastery and beauty 
of new and exhaustless invention — until now, almost 
every hill and valley, woodland and prairie, rock and 
river, lake and shore, from the Atlantic even to the 
very verge of the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes 
to the Mexican Gulf, proudly acknowledges its domin- 
ion, and teems with the copiousness of ever-swelling 
wealth. 

How praiseworthy, then, is the spirit, which, by facil- 
ities such as Col. Colt promises to offer here, would 
render the great instrumentality of which I speak, so 
far as it falls within the sphere of his own influence, 
enlightened — which, into hands that have opportunity 
here to drop for a while the tools of labor, puts the 
tools of knowledge! What important results may not 
flow from this happy course! How many minds that 



22 

otherwise might he condemned never to revolve be- 
yond the confined circle of a machine, and its one un- 
varying material product, may in this way be enabled 
to revolve in the unconfined circles of immaterial 
thought — developing themselves for their own, and for 
the happiness of others — not adversely to that toil which 
claims its daily routine — not with the engendering of a 
spirit that shall learn to look with disdain, or with a 
grain of discontent even, upon the operations of handi- 
craft — by no means — but developing themselves in har- 
mony with what the hands find to do — with a conscious- 
ness of intelligent action that shall lift the veil of hu- 
miliation from the meekest, even the lowliest toil — bor- 
rowing, in fact, from the riches of knowledge, charms 
for the beaten path of physical labor, even as the long 
roadway borrows charms for its own monotonous track 
from the sweet and ever-changing landscapes that may 
surround it, and that the blessed sun plays upon. 

And who knows — it is a pleasant thought — an antic- 
ipation to be cherished — one that the consideration of 
mere material improvement, of simple brick and mor- 
tar, can not, and ought not ever to repress — who knows 
but that to the opportunities which this apartment may 
afford to youth and men who shall seek its repose, for 
self-improvement, society may hereafter become in- 
debted for some new and leading mind — one that from 
the unmarked retreat of toil may shoot out to startle 
and star our City, our State, our Country — one, perhaps, 
that overleaping the bounds of artisanship, under the 
lure and stimulus of an ambition that shall have been 



23 

roused and quickened by incipient culture here, may 
shine in other walks of life — in the front rank, perhaps, 
among professional men— at the head of magistracy — 
in the van, it may be, among statesmen — foremost 
among public benefactors — a mind that shall leave its 
impress upon the world, and on the world's history! 

So, at times — suddenly — does genius spring from in- 
centives just such as are contemplated here. So, occa- 
sionally, does it burst out from the sphere of labor, and 
"boldly claim a province higher still" — one which, 
thank Heaven, our own unfettered land freely allots 
it — for with us, as I have already intimated, Labor has 
thrown off every badge of feudal servitude. Our offi- 
ces of honor and of trust are open to all. Our bare- 
footed ploughboys may rise to ride the Steed of State, 
and wield the rod of republican empire. Our printing 
press sends forth its Franklin — our shoemaker's bench 
its Roger Sherman — our blacksmith's forge its General 
Greene — our rustic inn its General Putnam — our clock- 
maker's stoolits John Fitch — our little grocery shop 
its Patrick Henry — the rude habitation of a peasant- 
noble, in the midst of a forest, upon a frontier of civili- 
zation, its Daniel Webster — the shanty of an humble 
Irish emigrant amid the wilds of the Waxhaws, its Pres- 
ident Andrew Jackson — a lowly cot upon "the Slashes 
of the Virginia Hanover," its Henry Clay — our weav- 
er's loom, its President Fillmore — our machinist's block 
its self-taught representative of the industrious masses, 
to be pitted at last — as but a few months since — against 
"one of the brightest gems of American aristocracy," and 



24 

to win the gavel and the mace of the Speakership in the 
Capitol of our Great Republic! — Yes, ladies and gen- 
tlemen — and from the comparative obscurit3 7 of a plain 
American trading vessel — an adventurous Yankee sail- 
or boy may rise from a dark and cheerless orphanage 
upon the seas, to claim kindred with the highest in- 
ventive genius of the land — may rise to originate and 
perfect a battle-arm — modeled while tossing on the 
distant Indian waves — which has completely revolu- 
tionized the art of war, and added a new and marvel- 
ous security to peace — and which — from the snow-capt 
Nevadas on the Pacific, to the blood-red plains of the 
Crimea, the mountains of the Caucasus, and the jungles 
of Hindostan — itself reports the triumph of American 
skill, and blazes the fame of an American name ! 

But this Hall has another and important purpose to 
serve — I have said — that of affording accommodation 
for amusement as well as for instruction. It is to be 
devoted, at intervals, to innocent gaieties — to exhibi- 
tions that win to mirthtulness — to the dance, to music, 
and to song. 

Some there are in every community, I am aware — 
and our own is not an exception to the remark — who 
frown upon such indulgencies as tending to the demor- 
alization of society. A few indeed there are, who look 
upon them as even periling humanity both for time 
and for eternity — who deem all amusements, all flights 
of pleasantry, all "coruscations of wit, and pun, and 
pith, and point," as devices of the Evil one — and who 
at bare thought of ballets and minuets, of strains from 



25 

an opera, or the vocal gymnastics of negro minstrelsy, 
of feats of necromancy, or a laughter-moving farce, or 
a comic burlesque, are seized with such ' virtuous pangs,' 
as not only utterly to confound their own peace of 
mind, but to keep society, if they could, epidemically 
rasped and heaving with the colic of their own impart- 
ed indignation. Harlequin and Jocko, in their appre- 
hension — once admitted into good society — would be 
sure to precipitate it headlong into ruin. 

Now as against all censurers of this order — men " of 
such vinegar aspect" themselves, as never "to show 
their teeth by way of smile" — exacerbated men, who 
would make life all as unjoyous as their own natures — 
that use of this Hall which we have now under consid- 
eration, enters its protest — and on grounds, which, in 
my judgment, are entirely solid. 

Just as if now all this fair creation was to be turned, 
as they would turn it, into one huge graveyard! As if 
ascetic macerations constituted the only true moral dis- 
cipline, and austerity were the sole virtue ! As if too 
it was not a truth — and one indeed crowded with sig- 
nificance — that man is the only being upon earth that 
is endowed with the power of laughter! As if he was 
not obliged by his very constitution to unbend at in- 
tervals, as the bow, from exercise — or like the bow, 
however glorious the material of which he may be 
composed, become feeble, and worthless at last, if kept 
forever in tension! As if it was not his necessity in 
fact, to seek pleasures for his eye, his ear, for his every 
sense — for his whole social and genial, as well as for his 



26 

reflective and devotional nature ! As if too it were not, 
in truth, just as absurd to think of measuring all human 
happiness, as the critics to whom I refer would measure 
it, by some one sole and exclusive standard — and this 
the standard set up lyy themselves — as it would be "to 
think of discovering one universal stature, or one uni- 
versal form of the infinitely-varied features of man- 
kind!" And as if, too, indulgences that are pure and 
joyous — in relaxation of the mind, and heart, and mus- 
cles, and calling into play other and different associa- 
tions from those which attend the performance of grave 
and regular daily tasks — did not by the very contrasts 
of thought which they occasion, and the very exhilara- 
tion of spirits which they excite, render the execution 
of these tasks, when undertaken, all the easier, and 
therefore all the more productive — did not serve, not 
only as antidotes to the narcotic influence of toil, and 
to restore the worn-out body, but to add a new and 
nervous energy to life — did not cumulate, in fact, the 
stock of vital action with which to strengthen and swell 
the labor either of the head or hands! 

Why in the department of religious labor even, gen- 
tlemen and ladies — I have known an eminent divine 
pace his parlor habitually, and play the fiddle by the 
hall-hour at a time — not forgetting to include in his 
musical exercise the martial harmonies of ** flail Colum- 
bia," and even the brisker, quickstep notes of "Yankee 
Doodle" — and then retire to his study room, and bury 
himself with profounder devotion, in consequence, in 
theological exegesis — keep better step, in consequence, 
to the music and inarch of David's triumphal Psalms — 



27 

thrill the more enthusiastically over the lofty strains of 
Isaiah — melt the more deeply over the weird lamenta- 
tions of Jeremiah — and gather richer and more golden 
harvests of instruction from the "sententious and royal" 
wisdom of Solomon. 

And I have known also a gentleman in the depart- 
ment of secular labor — a wealthy proprietor — whose 
cares are enormous — enough at times to crush any or- 
dinary mortal — who, at frequent intervals, beguiles his 
spirits, calms his consideration, and re-habilitates him- 
self for business, under all its thousand-fold pressures 
upon his attention, by just placing between his teeth a 
little harp-shaped instrument — whose spring he strikes 
dexterously with his finger — whose vibrations he modu- 
lates artistically with his breath — and with such happy 
effect — with strains of yielded melody so soft, so tran- 
quilizing, so even delicious — that all business operations 
thereafter seem to dance through his hands in perfect 
time, and with astounding results — even like flying bat- 
talions over the chess-board of war, when moved by the 
genius of an Alexander, a Turenne, or a Napoleon! — 
So much for the potency of even a common Jews-harp ! 

In good sooth, ladies and gentlemen, a trifling in- 
strumentality even, in the way of amusement, yields 
often a great good — and if life be, as usually painted, 
choked alas with trials — a dark and soul-saddening 
ordeal for poor human nature — why the more sunshine 
you can bring to play upon it, the better — the fewer 
of course will be the clouds. This is my theory. Is it 
not a good one? Distil into the heart of the traveler 



28 

to eternity — viewing man even under this grave as- 
pect — distil drops from the cup of glee, as well as pour 
currents from the fountains of moral and pious truth — 
and he will no longer, in my opinion, find Jordan half 
so "hard a road to travel" as both song and sermon 
alike represent it to be. Am I not correct? A good 
la imh, with all its variations, from the bass to the alto — 
from the scarce audible titter and unuttered grin, on 
through the buoyant, elastic giggle, and the merry, 
ringing shout, to the jubilant, and even rampant cach- 
ination — is, in my belief, not only an important agent in 
the generation of health — according to the familiar and 
w r ell-established physiological maxim of "Laugh, and be 
fat," — but even in an economic view, it is a great produ- 
cer — one of the very best — for it produces content — 
and content — that especially which springs from a just 
consideration and a genial sympathy on the part of the 
employer — is your true quickener of industry — and 
industry, as we all well know, begets wealth. 

Why seriously, ladies and gentlemen, it is matter 
of cool doubt among many grave public economists in 
England even at the present time — and among even not 
a few of her leviathan fundholders too — whether, now 
that the larger part of her old joy-inspiring holidays are 
struck from her calendar, and labor, with but compara- 
tively little of repose, is more than ever drawn into the 
everlasting, all-absorbing, but never-satisfied vortex of 
the money market — in order to sustain her stupendous 
national debt, to pamper her aristocracy, and to feed 
her holocaust of blood and gold on the plains of the 



29 

Crimea — I say it is matter of grave doubt whether her 
productive power, relatively, as it involves human 
brain and muscle, is half so great as it was when festi- 
vals, wakes, and fairs, far oftener than they now do, 
animated the toil of her people, as in the Elizabethan 
age, with a grateful and soul-stirring hilarity. Her 
hospitalities, sports, and rejoicings in the olden time — 
when heralds before her castle gates shouted " Zargesse" 
to "vassal, tenant, serf, and all," and minstrels sung the 
exploits of her Robin Hood, and the feuds of the Per- 
cy's with the Douglass clan, and there was lasting good 
cheer of roast beef, plum pudding, toast, and ale, in 
even the humblest cottage of "merrie England" — when 
the long Christmas festivals of a happy and yet unpil- 
lagecl yeomanry made cold December nights vocal with 
gayety, and roofs and rafters shake as if they also were 
alive with merriment — when New Years and the First 
of May, Shrove Tuesday and Martinmas, seed-time and 
harvest, far more than at the present day, gladdened 
her country life with pastime — these enjoyments, proof 
in themselves of a far easier condition than England 
now can claim — contributed in a vast degree to nerve 
the labor of the field, the factory, and the shop — gave 
to it buoyancy — sweetened it with anticipations of 
coming enjoyment — and therefore rendered it all the 
more hearty, ambitious, contented, and productive. 

It is a great mistake that in England these carnival 
seasons, instead of having been moderated and regula- 
ted where they required restraint, should have been to 
so great an extent quite abandoned. The error is 



30 

lamented. It is a mistake, too, in our own land that, 
duly managed, they do not more abound. The fact is, 
in my view, that our own people are altogether too 
perseveringly, painfull}*, and remorselessly even, given 
up to the almighty dollar. "Thrown upon a new conti- 
nent," as that all-accomplished statesman, orator, and 
scholar, Edward Everett, remarked, not long since, at a 
celebration in Boston, — '"eager to do the work of twenty 
centuries in two — the Anglo-American population has 
overworked, and is daily overworking itself. From 
morning to night, from January to December, brain 
and hands, eyes and fingers, the powers of the body, 
and the powers of the mind, are in spasmodic, merciless 
activity." :|: How true! We ought, therefore, as I 
think, to worship Mammon less, and Momus more — to 
inaugurate more heart-cheering holidays than we now 
have — celebrate more feasts of families — keep more 
harvest homes — burn larger Christmas logs — garland 
taller May poles — and devote larger hecatombs of 
beeves and poultry for grateful distribution in delight- 
ed neighborhoods, and to "the poor in the parish." 
We ought to establish more numerous seasons for gifts 
of remembrance — for the Sevres-vase offering of friend- 
ship, if we can afford it — for caskets concealing the 
diamond — and for the golden turtle doves, dear to 
Venus. We should, in short, love and cherish, far 
more than we now do, the ivy, the holly, and the ever- 

* "Our people," adds Mr. Everett, " have not yet learned the lesson contained 
in the very word recreation, which teaches that the worn-out man is re-created, 
made over again by the seasonable relaxation of the strained faculties." 



31 

green — the new flowers of spring — the ripened festoons 
of summer — and the golden corn ears of yellow au- 
tumn. True, our old ancestral forms of enjoyment 
have, many of them, passed away — some of them, per- 
haps, for the better — but the feeling that craves hilari- 
ty, in one shape or another, still remains — movelessly 
rooted in the great heart of mankind — and it is one of 
the worthiest of purposes — it is the part of essential 
wisdom as well as of beautiful charity — in any system 
of labor, under any government, in every community, 
to provide for its clue indulgence. 

So thinks the projector of this structure — and thinks 
rightly. With Dr. Johnson he is of opinion that good 
humor is "the balm of life — the quality to which all 
that adorns or elevates mankind must owe its power of 
pleasing." With the philosopher Montaigne, he be- 
lieves that " the most manifest sign of Wisdom is con- 
tinued Cheerfulness" — that without this element Life 
is "a Lapland winter without a sun" — that with it, Labor 
will ever be encountered with a placid smile — that be- 
fore it difficulties dissolve like snow-drifts before the 
God of Day — and therefore it is, that he would have 
bubbles of innocent mirth rise at times within these 
walls, and burst over a sea of happy faces. 

Thus much, ladies and gentlemen, in explanation, 
and in maintenance of the purposes for which this Hall 
has been established. It remains now only, in con- 
formity with the request of the projector of this struc- 
ture, that I should bestow upon it a name. 

To this duty then I turn. My secular baptistery is 



32 

here. The special sponsor for the occasion is here* 
and here is a crowd of living witnesses. And yonder, 
in near neighborhood to this our place of assemblage — 
in loving familiarity, for hoary centuries, with the as- 
pects of mis valley, alike in sunshine and in storm — 
alike when it was dotted with the wigwams of the Red 
Man, and when our own ancestral Pale Faces first came 
to claim it — and now that it promises soon, its agricul- 
tural fast yielding to other uses, to become crowded 
with workshops and habitations — yonder, in solitary 
grandeur almost overshadowing us from its own hill-top, 
and overlooking the majestic Connecticut, and the new 
and wonderful creations which the might of manufac- 
turing art has here but as yesterday evolved — yonder, 
in the glory of a patriotic history that is unmatched by 
aught else of its own nature upon earth — stands that 
Monarch Tree, the Charter Oak! It has already often 
vouchsafed its opulent, expressive name. Our State is 
gloriously known in history, and in common parlance 
is proclaimed, as the Charter Oak Stale. The river and 
the sea have borrowed the name for the steamer and 
the ship. Organized associations — the Bank, the Insur- 
ance Company, and the Lodge — employ it, It circu- 
lates, beautifully impressed, on their bills, their life pol- 
icies, and on their badges. It glitters, in its gilded 
symbol, on the accoutrements of the military company. 
It figures on the hotel, the store, the refectory, the sa- 
loon, and the market place. It has long distinguished 

* At this point the speaker tamed to Col. Colt. 



33 

a leading street of our city — that upon which, continu- 
ed in avenue amplitude down to this the Great River 
of New England, we are assembled to-night. Yet, 
though often used, the good name never degenerates 
into triteness. It has, fortunately, resources of mean- 
ing that no consumption can waste. It is indeed for- 
ever exhaustless. 

Under the authority then to me committed by the 
lawful proprietor of this edifice — the first-born struc- 
ture, as, felicitously, it happens to be, upon this new- 
made avenue — and by virtue too of my own particular 
warrant as the lawful proprietor of the Oak itself — in 
view of the truly useful, liberal, and gladdening pur- 
poses which this Hall is designed to answer — consider- 
ing also gravely the fact — vouched for by its Sponsor 
here — that the Spirit which is to reign within its walls, 
assents immovably unto all the articles of the Charter 
Oak faith — I do therefore hereby name, proclaim, and 
publish this spacious apartment to the world as the 
Charter Oak Hall! 

And in eminent token thereof — with this genuine 
Ritual-Wood — from the Oak itself — and bearing its title 
emblazoned in letters of silver — I do hereby wed Name 
and Hall — and pronounce them one and indissoluble, 
now and forever! 

Into your hands, Sir.* appropriately, I commit this 
token — to be by you affixed conspicuously upon this 
Hall — here to remain to bespeak its name, and to mark 

* Here the Speaker placed the ritual-wood in tlie hands of Col. Colt. 

3 



34 

its dedication for all time, to good, and honorable, and 
cheerful ends. And may the reputation of this apart- 
ment be ever consonant to the appellation it now 
bears! May it ever steadily fulfil all the purposes 
which a well-appointed Assembly-Eoom can be made to 
serve, in the midst of a community of artizans that shall 
be sustained and improved through your own industrial 
genius, and your benevolent care — becoming to them a 
spot of attractive resort when they are at leisure from 
toil — and a spot where you, Sir — through countless 
happy consequences that shall flow from this worthy 
application of your means — may find the most abundant 
cause for rejoicing!" 



Here Mr. Stuart resumed his seat, amid the long 
continued plaudits of the audience, and at this moment 
the peal of a cannon was heard reverberating over the 
city. It was the first of a salute of thirty-two guns, 
which was fired from the dyke adjacent to the Hall by 
the young men of the Armory, who had prepared the 
surprise as a mark of their own interest in the ceremo- 
nies, without the knowledge of those who had partici- 
pated in the proceedings at the Hall. Col. Colt, having 
received from the hands of Mr. Stuart the large and 
exquisitely beautiful tablet of wood from the Charter 



35 

Oak, with the name of the Hall emblazoned thereon in 
letters of silver, affixed it on the wall of the Hall, in 
the rear of the platform, amid the cheers of the audi- 
ence. The Band then struck up "Hail to the Chief," 
and after the execution of this piece of music, Hon. 
Henry C. Deming, the Mayor of the city, rose and spoke 
as follows: 



SPEECH OF MR. DEMING. 



Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Gentlemen. 

When Noma of the Fitful-Head descended from the 
lofty crag, where she was wont to weave her magic 
spells, and chant her invocations to the god of storms, 
she was received by the inhabitants of Zetland with 
every mark of homage, reverence and hospitality. In 
the same manner, ancient and mysterious Scasva !* 
we welcome thee, descending from yonder hill where 
thou art wont to muse and meditate, and commune with 
the spirits of the past, we welcome thee, laying aside 
thy tablets and singing robes for a season, to mingle in 
the pursuits and pastimes of us mere mortals of the 
plain, to cheer us with these witching traditions of the 
past, and to lift our load and smooth our path, with the 
inspiration of thy charitable and genial philosophy. In 
behalf of Col. Colt, I accept the names which thouf 
hast bestowed on these streets and avenues, because as 
the anointed priest and oracle of the past, thou hast 
the right to reproduce it in the present, and to trans- 

* A name by which Mr. Stuart is known as Antiquarian. 
t Mr. Deming is no Quaker but he carries out the idea with which the reply 
opens by addressing Mr. Stuart in the second person singular. 



38 

mit it by enduring associations and memorials to the 
future. I accept too, for him the name of thine own 
venerable tree, which thou hast just conferred upon this 
Hall, because as the lord, the guardian, and the Clio of 
the Oak, thou hast a right to impart its cherished ap- 
pellation and to distribute its honors. By his authority 
I declare, that by these names the streets and avenues, 
that by this name this Hall shall be known and desig- 
nated in all future time. 

Before performing this imposing rite, thou hast been 
pleased to exact from the spirit which presides here, 
obedience to the Charter-Oak faith. If we are to un- 
derstand that this faith imposes upon us the defense of 
our own rights wdienever and wheresoever assailed, the 
rendering of exact and impartial justice to all who may 
be temporarily under our protection, and the mainte- 
nance of those doctrines of popular sovereignty fore- 
shadowed in the old Charter, then I for this infant — 
restive and intractable though he sometimes be, — then 
I for him promise and vow obedience to the requisitions 
of a faith so reasonable. 

Thou hast said, that we have here practically illus- 
trated the harmonious cooperation of capital and labor. 
Labor! we hold that it is the poor man's sole property, 
that none is more sacred, that nothing deserves from 
our hands more absolute encouragement and protection. 
Capital ! it is the twin-brother of labor, or rather they 
are Siamese-twins, not self-existent, self-sustained, but 
mutually dependent upon each other for life, health 
and strength. But although every law, moral and eco- 



39 

nomical, every principle conceded by statesmen, and 
thinkers, and economists, of every diverse school and 
creed, establish not a conflict, but an absolute identity 
of interest between capital and labor ; although it is 
universally conceded that both should cooperate, like 
the hands of a sane man, to execute the behests of the 
will, yet, such is the perversity of human action, they 
have been frequently found, like the hands of a mad- 
man, dashing furiously together, until both were bleed- 
ing and disabled. 

We enter our protest against any such fratricidal 
warfare here. This Hall is our witness that to promote 
leisure and provide for it, is as much the duty of capital 
as to enforce works. To confine the operative forever 
to a meager stipend, and to the ranks of mere manual 
labor, is no part of our creed, but we here provide him 
with the time, the education and social advantages that 
shall enable him some day, to become an inventor, a 
master-workman, a capitalist himself. The Library, the 
Reading Room, the Lecture Room, the School for Art, 
the Music which is to wake the echoes of the mead and 
woo the Naiad of the stream, the song, the dance, the 
social gathering — smoothing the brow of care and re- 
lieving the over-strained muscles — these are the bonds, 
the sureties, the guaranties which Col. Colt freely prof- 
fers to the future, that in this establishment, labor shall 
be intelligent, happy, healthy and free ; for the past, 
there sits by his side a witness, Mr. Root, who has risen 
from the anvil to the general superintendency of the 
largest Armory in the world, and to the enjoyment of the 



40 

largest salary in the State, and by Ms side, yet another, 
Mr. Lord, the superintendent of the Arm's Department, 
who starting from the same point has attained a posi- 
tion and an income which might well fill the measure 
of any man's ambition ; while as vouchers for the presr 
fill, there are, following hard upon them, scores of young 
men in these vast works, destined, I devoutly believe, 
because their advantages are infinitely superior, to a still 
higher eminence in the same noble career. 

Col. Colt is not then here this evening, Mr. Chair- 
man, in the spirit of speculation, nor in the spirit of self- 
glory to bestow an honored name on this triangular 
piece of brick and mortar, but he is here to found an 
institution, to inaugurate an alliance for the reciprocal 
benefit of capital and labor, which if his wishes and 
mind can aught avail shall endure, until my bones and 
his become as fleshless and friable as those of the old 
Dutchman we disinterred in digging its foundations. 
As in the Armory below, we weld the steel, the wood, 
and the brass into a weapon which as you say, has 
almost revolutionized modern warfare, we here shall 
weld the skillful hand, the enlightened mind and the 
animating and inspiring soul into a still mightier in- 
strument. We are about to group and blend into one 
imposing piece three statues, that frequently stand iso- 
lated and alone, but which have for each other natural 
attractions and affinities. The central figure is colossal, 
with the physical development and proportions of the 
Grecian Hercules, the head massive, the brow corrugated; 
the eye eager and intent, is fastened upon a strong mus- 



41 

cular hand, which holds the little weapon that all the 
world over, from California's mountains to Coromandel's 
coast, is the surest safe-guard and protector of civilized 
men; on the right, gazing benignantly on the grim 
colossus, stands a figure graceful and classic in form and 
outline, with face and lineaments refined, spiritual and 
lighted up with more than mortal loveliness, it is that 
intelligence which thou hast so beautifully described ; 
on the left is a gay laughing dancing sprite, with flow- 
ing curls, and a wreath on her head, and a lute in her 
hand; it is the amusement thou hast so graphically de- 
lineated. If there is a statuary amongst you, let him 
mould and group these figures, and place them here, as 
a perpetual emblem and memorial, of the uses and pur- 
poses to which this Hall is now dedicated. 

You may have supposed that your model Armory, 
with its solid walls, its magnificent steam-engine, its 
iron columns for support and ventilation, its new fan- 
gled geering and shafting, its dexterous and magical 
machinery, and its thousand appliances for aiding and 
economizing labor, was complete and finished up to the 
very last touch of perfection ; we are about to add to it 
something, without which it would be as imperfect, as 
one leg of a pair of tongs, one blade of a pair of shears, 
or (to use stronger illustration) as a starched, stiff, unap- 
proachable old-maid, or a cold, morose, forlorn, miserable 
bachelor, or any other half made and useless contriv- 
ance ; we are about to add to the Armory its counter- 
part, to unite, to wed, to marry the forge and the work 
shop to the Beading Room and the Dancing Hall. 



42 

Time would fail me to respond in fitting terms to the 
generous compliments, which both of you, gentlemen, 
have lavished upon Col. Colt. He is proud to feel that 
you and his fellow citizens regard his enterprise as not 
entirely unworthy of such commendation. It was the 
dream of his boyhood, — a dream which under the most 
extraordinary difficulties, discouragements and reverses, 
sustained and cheered him, — that if Providence should 
ever smile upon his industry and energy, he would here 
upon this very spot, where thou hast mapped out the 
historic antecedents of the colony, rear an establishment 
which should not only be an honor to his native town, 
but a light — a landmark to those who should follow him 
in the weary and disheartening pilgrimage of mechanical 
genius. We have before us a most splendid realization 
of the poor boy's dream. And it seems to me, Sir, that 
the great moral suggested by this occasion, taught by 
a success so transcendent from beginnings so humble, 
proclaimed by this princely domain, by these massive 
and imposing structures, by this encircling causeway, 
which saith, (as has already been remarked,) to the full 
spring volume of New England's noblest river, " thus Ear 
shalt thou come and no farther," by the prosperity 
which crowns the cup and the heart of Col. Colt, — the 
great lesson which every thing within, above, and 
around us, upon this auspicious eve, enforces upon the 
toiling artisan is this, " in the depths of thy despondency 
never despair." If there is one of 3-011 to whom, in 
those moments of depression and foreboding which 
assail us all, one to whom the world seemsa wilderness, 



43 

and the future a black and portentous cloud, from 
whence not one ray of encouragement or hope ema- 
nates, to him I can say, look to your principal and his 
aids, like them you may yet break from the fetters of 
iron fortune, like them you may yet realize the dream 
of your boyhood, and rise like them, triumphant and 
glorious from the sepulcher of despair. 

Let me now drop my representative character and 
say one word in my own. If the Chairman had not 
already, in language more eloquent and felicitous than 
I can hope to employ, exhibited the great advantages 
of these south-meadow improvements to the city, and 
vindicated the wisdom of the municipal legislation by 
which they have been encouraged, I should feel called 
upon to discuss at some length these fruitful themes. 
It only remains for me now to add a single illustration 
to one of his suggestions. What gives the greatest 
value to land ? Land is valuable for its mineral wealth, 
for tillage, from its proximity to water privileges, or to 
the ocean the great highway of nations. But why is 
an acre in the neighborhood of Wall street worth more 
than a principality in Oregon ? In mineral wealth, in 
water privileges, for tillage, the larger domain is infi- 
nitely superior, and if the one is on the shores of the 
Atlantic, the other is washed by the great Pacific sea. 
The difference is due to the presence in the one case, 
and to the absence in the other of population. It is the 
number of people on it, which gives its greatest value 
to land. Why too does a store or a manufactory on 
the corner of Broadway and Pine rent for its thousands, 



44 

while a store or manufactory on the corner of Main and 
Broad streets in Astoria, is abandoned to the owls and 
the bats? The same word, population, answers the 
question. What gives vitality and vigor to all our 
moral, social and spiritual interests? Compare the 
churches, schools, libraries, lectures, music, art, manners 
of Hartford and of some thinly settled town. Why is the 
standard of all these higher in the former than the latter ? 
It is because all these interests, spiritual, intellectual, 
esthetic, depend in a great measure upon material pros- 
perity, and that draws its life from population. Every 
man, then, brought into, these workshops, every family 
that settles on the meadows, adds not only to the value of 
your land and houses, but to your value as men, to the 
permanence and progress of your colleges, schools and 
churches, to that higher wealth which is weighed and 
measured, not by the grand list, but by the moral intel- 
lectual and social elevation of a people. The important 
truths contained in these queries vindicate the aid which 
the city has extended to this enterprise. Fortunately, 
in this case, blessings have not come single, and while 
we are able to rejoice that Col. Colt has given an accel- 
erated impulse to all the most vital interests of his native 
town, we are also able to congratulate him that atthe same 
time, he has benefited himself. He has, at all events, 
saved his heirs and executors from raising in any of our 
cemeteries any costly monument or mausoleum to his 
name, for he has reared an imperishable one to himself; 
and we can say of him, as was said of Sir Christopher 
Wren, who built St. Paul's, and was buried beneath its 



45 

dome, si quceris monumentum circamspice, if you seek for 
his monument look around ! 



At the conclusion of Mr. Dealing's address, when the 
long applause which ensued had subsided, the Band 
struck up " Hail Columbia." This was followed by an- 
other striking and most appropriate piece of music from 
11 Trovatorc, entitled, " The Anvil Chorus" with anvil ac- 
companiments — after which, on motion of Allyn Good- 
win Esquire, the meeting adjourned. 




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